Tax, as you'd expect, is complicated. Usual disclaimers apply - this is based on my experience, and might be completely wrong. If you follow my advice, and go to prison, that's not my fault.
There are two kinds of income tax, federal tax, and there's state tax - although not all states have state taxes.
When you start working, you make an approximation as to how much tax you are going to need to pay, and you pay that much. The tax year runs (rather sensibly) from January 1st to December 31st, so sometime after December 31st, and before January 15th, you need to sort out your tax, and either get a refund (hurrah!) or pay some extra (boo).
You might think that the obvious thing to do is to pay no tax, and then pay it all at the end of the year - if you do this, the IRS will be cross, and you'll get fined something extra. Most people get a refund.
You'll need a professional to sort out your tax for you - however, this is much cheaper than in the UK. The first year we were here, we went to H&R Block where we paid a nice person to explain everything to us. This cost about $150 (for federal and state tax).
This year, I used an online service - TurboTax, which cost about $60, and was relatively stress free. However, we couldn't use TurboTax the first year, as my wife and children did not have working visas, and so didn't have social security numbers - they had to apply for a Taxpayer Identification Number (even though they don't pay tax), and to do that, we couldn't file online.
Deductibles
Lots of stuff is tax deductible. Whenever you donate money to charity, that's tax deductible, and you can claim the tax back on that. When you give stuff to charity, you do the same thing. When you take stuff to the thrift shop (charity shop) they will offer you a receipt. They will write what you gave them on the receipt, but they won't estimate what it was worth - that's for you to do, and then claim it back on your tax.
Anything you buy for work is tax deductible (I claim books), and if you work at home, a proportion of your housing costs are tax deductible too.
Childcare is tax deductible, as is private schooling.
The biggest deductible for many people is their mortgage interest, and their property tax (yes, that's right, your tax is tax deductible). Meaning that the larger and more expensive the house you buy, the less tax you pay.
Usage Tax
If you live in a state where there is sales tax, and you buy stuff from out of state, you are supposed to declare that on your (state) tax return, and pay the tax for the city that you live in. No one (as far as I can tell) actually does, and some people seem surprised when you tell them.
Sales Tax
If you are in an area where sales tax applies, you don't know how much anything costs, because the sales tax (VAT) is added after. And the precise sales tax depends on the city that you are in - in Los Angeles, it's (I think) 8.5%, in Santa Monica it's 8.75%. And you could walk from one to the other without noticing. Don't try to get the exact money ready.
Banks
Banks are, well, they are like banks. But there are also credit unions, which are a little like building societies - credit unions are smaller, and owned by the account holders. They tend to give friendlier service, but have fewer bells and whistles - they don't open late, for example.
Credit unions have slightly restrictive membership - for example, I'm a member of the Premier America Credit Union, which has some theoretical membership restrictions, but they are so loose as to be pretty much non-existent. I have an account there, because there is a branch at work - if I forget my ATM card, they'll give me money based on my work ID badge (I suspect they'd give me money because they would recognize me). I can't imagine a bank doing that.
Moving money around electronically is more difficult than in the UK. There is no (as far as I can tell) BACS, for people to pay you, or you to pay them. Companies frequently send checks as refunds for things, which I find very boring.
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